In India, the history of medicine can be traced back to the vedic period. In Rigveda, uses of plants as medicine are mentioned followed by 'Atharva veda' where the magico-religious uses of plants are found. But there is no mention of plants as medicine in the treatment of domestic animals.
During the exploration of Bihar, Orissa and West Bengal (India), ethnobotanical information was collected from the tribes of Kondh, Munda, Oraon, Santal and Lodha along with plants. It is found that 20 species under 19 genera and 16 families are used by them for veterinary medicine. Most of these plants are new to scientific veterinary knowledge. An attempt has been made to enumerate all such folklore plants in the present work incorporating its botanical name, local name, locality, traditional uses with voucher specimens deposited in Economic Botany Section of Botanical Survey of India.
A similar exploration, carried out in the Chittoor District of Andhra Pradesh, one of the southern States of India, found fifty seven plants exclusively used by the tribal and non-tribal people of the district for different diseases of their domestic animals. The tribal Bhils of Udaipur district, Rajasthan also are very well equipped with herbal medicines to treat their domestic animals. Twenty-seven plants are used either as medicines or galactagogues or fodder.